


Define Sick

by DeathStricken (douchebagmcpickle)



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Hospital, Angst, F/M, M/M, Tags Subject to Change, i love Cisco and iris' friendship, tw: cancer
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-02
Updated: 2017-01-02
Packaged: 2018-09-14 02:49:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,046
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9155827
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/douchebagmcpickle/pseuds/DeathStricken
Summary: “Him, I mean,” he said, gesturing to Barry with his sucker. “Is he your boyfriend?”“Brother,” Iris replied. The other boy quirked an eyebrow, a small smile tugging at his lips. “Adopted.”Barry Allen was struck by lightning and with the overcrowding at STAR Labs Children's Hospital, he is roomed with Cisco Ramon, a 17 year old boy with lung cancer. Neither of them seem to mind though, seeing as Barry is in a coma.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Few notes before we start.  
> (1) Doctor Wells refers to Harry, not Eobard Thawne.  
> (2) The first couple of chapters will be Iris oriented. I know. Sorry.  
> (3) I've done as much research as I can, but please please please don't hesitate to message me with any corrections!

Iris West entered the small hospital room. The first thing she noticed was the bed closest to the door. There was a boy sleeping in it; a boy that was most definitely not her adopted brother.

  
This boy was Latino, with shoulder-length dark hair and a tube that sat in his nose, up around his ears and attached to what looked like an oxygen tank. He wore a black t-shirt with the Space Invaders ships on it. He was asleep, his lips parted and a science textbook open in his lap.

  
Iris smiled slightly, fondly remembering all the times she found Barry asleep in nearly the same position.

  
“Francisco Ramon,” a voice said behind her. Iris turned. Doctor Harrison Wells stood in the doorway, flipping through his clipboard of notes before he looked up to meet her eyes. “You’ll find your brother on the other side of the curtain. We have a bit of an overcrowding issue here. I'm sure we can find a single room for Mr Allen after he wakes.”

  
“Uh, right, thanks,” she muttered, glancing over at the boy- Francisco- one more time before moving behind the curtain where Barry lay, unconscious as well, though he had been for a week, ever since he'd been struck by lightning. This was her first time visiting without her father, as well as the first time his roommate had been in the room during a visit.

  
Barry’s heart monitor beeped steadily, a reminder that her brother was still alive. Iris traced her finger lightly along the red scars that spiderwebbed from the back of his neck, his chest and back, and down his left arm. They branched out from itself, like lightning under his skin. Doctor Wells had said it should fade after a couple of days, but it had been a week and they were still as bright as the day he was brought in.

  
Iris sat in the room for half an hour. She didn't say anything. Regardless of how many times they told her he could hear her, she still somehow felt silly talking to someone couldn't talk back.

  
So she sat with him, holding his hand and thinking about what she would say to him if he woke up.

  
She would tell him she loved him.

  
She would tell him she was in love with him.

  
She left when she realized she was crying. As she was leaving the room, she caught Francisco’s gaze. And his smile. 

 

* * *

 

  
Iris quickly learned that for someone who was in the hospital, Francisco Ramon smiled a lot. In fact, he was almost always smiling. He smiled at her when she walked in and when she left, and when he got up to go to the bathroom, wheeling an oxygen tank behind him.

  
_“Hey, Harry,” she had heard him say on the other side of the curtain, upon the doctor’s entrance._

_  
“You know, Mr Ramon, all of my other patients call me Doctor Wells,” the doctor responded with a sigh._

_  
“All of your other patients are under 13 years old,” Francisco replied. Iris could hear the smile in his voice._

  
They hadn't spoken, even though they saw each other almost every other day for the last three weeks. Iris had started to cut classes to visit Barry, but Joe was less than pleased when he found out. She still did sometimes, but most times she just went after school.

  
“Boyfriend?” She heard behind her out of the blue one day. When she turned, Francisco was standing behind her, one hand holding the little cart that held his oxygen tank, the other a dark purple sucker. He was wearing another graphic t-shirt, Star Trek this time. The words ‘Trek yourself before you wreck yourself’ accompanied a drawing of Spock. “Him, I mean,” he said, gesturing to Barry with his sucker. “Is he your boyfriend?”

  
“Brother,” Iris replied. The other boy quirked an eyebrow, a small smile tugging at his lips. “Adopted.”

  
Francisco nodded, putting the sucker in his mouth and using the now-free hand to hold the curtain as he disappeared behind it.

  
The pair didn't much talk after that, though they were still friendly. Francisco always smiled when she came in, and she always smiled back. She started to notice all the candy he ate (mostly lollipops and licorice). He almost always had candy in his mouth, except when he was sleeping or when he was feeling sick (he looked dreary on those days, but he still managed to smile at her).

  
Iris started greeting Barry when she came in. “Hey Barry” turned into “Hey Barry, I miss you” which turned into “Hey Barry, guess what happened today!” Pretty soon she was telling him full on stories. And what felt silly to her before, felt so comforting now. She hoped Francisco didn't mind. And if he did, he didn't say anything.

 

* * *

 

  
She'd been in the middle of telling Barry a story. Someone stole her bag at school and the captain of the football team- Captain Pretty Boy, as they called him- got it back for her. “I don't know, he seemed like another jerk, but maybe now not so much?” She spoke in a hushed voice. Francisco had been asleep when she came in, this time with Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy in this lap.

  
“They finally reopened the science lab,” Iris said after a few beats of silence. “They boarded up the skylight. We’re not sure if they're going to replace it or just close it up. It seems to have caused more problems than-” Iris stopped when she heard a noise. It sounded like...choking?

  
Iris stood up, moving slowly towards the curtain. Hesitantly, she pulled it back. Francisco was writhing, gasping for air, one hand fumbling for the Nurse Call. There were desperate tears streaming down his cheeks as he fought to breathe.

  
“Oh my god,” Iris breathed, moving quickly for the door. “Doctor Wells!” She yelled into the hallway. “Someone help! He can't breathe!”

  
Doctor Wells came striding down the hallway, Caitlyn and a nurse Iris didn't recognize following close behind. Caitlyn apologized gently as she handed Iris her bag and shooed her out of the room. “You should be able to come back tomorrow,” the nurse said before disappearing into the room.

**Author's Note:**

> I think I'll make this a few chapters long. 5 probably. Anyway, hmu on Tumblr! deathstricken.tumblr.com


End file.
